Fierro Fundraiser

Art Fierro had his fundraiser last night and I went to check it out. It was held at Landry's which is where a lot of fundraisers for politicos are held. During the height of the Reyes - Beto campaign a few years ago I went to a fundraiser Congressman Reyes held there.

There weren't half as many people at Reyes' fundraiser last night as there were for Fierro's fundraiser. People couldn't actually fit inside the room and there was an overflow of people outside when he was speaking.

I didn't get a good look at everyone that attended and I was late so I probably missed a few people but it was pretty much a roster of people from all the "cliques" in El Paso. There were a couple of union bosses there, one from law enforcement and one from a teacher's union, several judges, school board trustees, constables, the County Attorney, the District Attorney, Justices of the Peace, and Democratic Party officials like officers from the Eastside Democrats, Tejano Democrats, Black El Paso Democrats and a bunch of precinct chairs.

And interestingly, colleagues of former City Rep Michiel Noe, Fierro's opponent. Which if you have a significant number of city reps that come out in support of Fierro over their former colleague, that is a pretty big slap in Noe's face and it says a lot about his ability to work with people.

Which goes back to those comments he made in that very first article about the race for HD 79. The first thing Noe did was attack Fierro and it rubbed people the wrong way.

Let me explain...its one thing to attack someone who a) has it coming b) when there is an actual issue to attack on and c) when its someone who people dislike.

It is a whole other thing to attack someone just because the rest of the delegation endorsed him. See here's the thing about Art Fierro. You can pretty much pick any elected official or political figure in El Paso and they will have a group of people that don't like them. You're always gonna have a group of haters, no matter who you are.

But in all the years of covering El Paso's political scene, which is longer than anyone else in this town by a long shot, I have never come across someone who genuinely dislikes Art Fierro. He's seriously one of the most well-liked people I can think of in politics.

That is a pretty sharp contrast when you put him up against Michiel Noe. Noe and I agree on policy quite a bit as I have mentioned before. But Noe is a doctor and used to being the boss. He doesn't like not being the head white guy in charge. So he can be a bit of a bull in a china shop when he feels he's right on an issue.

Also, quick sidebar. His campaign made sure they included "Dr." on his signs...but they didn't think to include the word Democrat on his sign. There's no strategic reason for the omission, so it was either because he doesn't want to identify as a Democrat and somehow things identifying as a doctor is more of a factor to voters (I don't know why he'd think that), or it was a big time screw-up. Either way, funny as hell to me.

Fierro has been an elected official longer than Noe and hasn't developed that reputation of abrasiveness. Even when people disagree with Art, they don't dislike Art and that is a big difference between the two candidates. Art Fierro took on that clique criticism from Noe last night in his speech making the point to enumerate the various sectors of support he has from teachers to law enforcement, to business, to community activists and said he was quite proud to be a part of that clique.

If last night was any indication, there's a lot of people that want to be part of Art's clique.